Mass. drivers show true colors with plates that back charities

Tuesday

Jun 24, 2008 at 12:01 AM

Vanity plates in the BAY ST8 may be more attention-grabbing, but with exactly 212,772 cars sporting specialty plates, Massachusetts drivers have certainly proved themselves to be more charitable than vain – say what you will about their driving.

John Kelly

Among the adjectives that naturally spring to mind to describe Massachusetts drivers, unselfish and charitable ... well ... they just don’t come up.

But when it comes to their license plates, charitable is precisely the word for a growing set of motorists.

Vanity plates in the Bay State may be more attention-grabbing on the Southeast Expressway at rush hour – there are roughly 70,000 of those.

But with 212,772 cars sporting specialty plates, Massachusetts drivers have certainly proven themselves to be more charitable than vain – say what you will about their driving.

According to the Registry of Motor Vehicles, each of these drivers paid a $40 fee – on top of the $36 registration fee, and then $81 for renewal every two years. Last year, that money meant more than $5.1 million for the charitable organizations that benefit from the sales.

Since the registry started its specialty plate program in 1995, the number of charities whose plates have hit the street has crept up to 14. They include the Jimmy Fund, the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund, the Conquer Cancer Coalition and the Environmental Trust, which receives money from three license plates – the right whale, the Blackstone Valley and the fish-and-wildlife license plate.

In that time, the charities have collected more than $40 million from sales and millions more from auctioning special-number plates, spending the money to fund cancer-prevention research; protect the Berkshires against development; clean discarded fishing gear from Scituate Harbor; support families who lost loved ones to the terrorist attacks of 2001; and teach kids to play hockey – among hundreds of other projects.

One organization dedicated to keeping pet populations under control has spayed and neutered thousands of pets and feral cats with the money. Another built a memorial to fallen firefighters outside the State House.

“Behind every one of those plates is a story,” says Susan Zuker, who founded Conquer Cancer after her husband died of lung cancer in 2004.

Two years after its license plate went on sale, the organization today plans to award $25,000 grants to five cancer-fighting groups, said Zuker, a Newton resident who was diagnosed with cancer last month.

John P. Kelly may be reached at jkelly@ledger.com.

What’s your plate?

Massachusetts drivers can choose any of the following plates associated with charities:

Mass. Environmental Trust

Diane Connolly-Zaniboni Breast Cancer Research Fund

Fallen Firefighters Memorial Fund

Conquer Cancer Coalition

Kids Replica Ballpark Inc.

N.E. Patriots Charitable Foundation

Mass. Animal Coalition

Mass. 9/11 Fund

Basketball Hall of Fame

Jimmy Fund

Mass. Youth Hockey

Cape Cod and the Islands

U.S. Olympic Committee

Child Care Quality Fund

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